Knitting needle



June A. c. KENDIG ETAL 2,444,102

KNITTING NEEDLE Filed Sept. 17, 19 5 2 1w"? 3M 5 I A185? CI Afr/vo/a Z A0/0 Spa-Name Patented June 29, 1948 NEEDLE Albert 0. Kendig. Eagle Rock,and Lloyd Spencer,

Los Angeles, Calif.

Application September 17,1945, Serial No. 616,162

'6 Ciaimc. '(Cl. 66-117) Our invention relates to knitting needles, andamong the objects of our invention are: a

First, to provide a knitting needle having an eccentrically disposedhead in which is provided an extra opening therein adapted to receive amating knitting needle so that when not in use the two knitting needlesmay be joined together.

Second, to provide a knitting needle wherein themembers of a pair ofneedles are adapted to interlock with each other and prevent theknitting trom slipping off the needles when the knitting is put away orbeing carried.

Third, to provide a knitting needle the head of which, althoughself-locking is particularly compact and in no manner will interferewith knitting.

Fourth, to providea knitting needle which in corporates a scale formeasuring the length or width of the piece Ibeing knitted.

With the foregoing and other objects in view as may appear hereinafter,reference is directed to the accompanying drawings in which:

or plastic, or even wood. Each knitting needle includes a shaft I havinga pointed end 2, and,

st ts opposite end a head, indicated generally Y In the constructionshown in Figures 1, 2, and 3,

the head 3 may be rounded in form with a fiat end. Entering the headirom its fiat end is a socket 4 and a hole 5. The socket and'hole areoffset substantially equal distances either side of the axis of the headand preferably converge.

. are caused to bend slightly as shown by solid lines in Figure 1 andconsequently the shafts tend to bind in their holes 5. Thus, when thetwo needles are joined together as shown in Figure l they arefrictionally held together, so that any Figure 1 is a side view of apair of knitting needles embodying our invention, indicating by solidlines the normal shape taken when the view of a modified dorm of ourknitting needles showing the needles joined together. V

Figure 5 is a transverse sectional view taken through 5--5 of Figure 4showing the head in elevation.

Figure 6 is a side view of a form of our knitting needle, showing a pairinterconnected.

Figure '7 is also a side .view of the knitting needles shown in Figure6, but showing the needles twisted to form an interlocking connection. Y

Figure 8 is a top view of a further modified form of our knitting needlewherein one side is flattened and a scale imprinted thereon.

Figure 9 is a fragmentary side elevational view showing a pair of theneedles represented in Figure 8 interlocked.

Our knitting needles may be formed of metal further modified knittingcarried on one or both needles is. prevented irom'slipping off the ends.Furthermore, inasmuch as the needles may be joined together they remainas a unit when put away and not in use, rather than two separatearticles each useless without the other.

The frictional grip between the knitting needles may be increased if thecentral portions of the shafts are forced toward each other as indicatedby dotted lines. This tends to be the case when the knitting is dividedbetween the two needles, and may be augmented by wrapping the knittingabout the needles. 1

Reference is nowdirected to Figures 4 and 5. In this construction thehead 3, in place 0d. having separate socket 4 and hole 5, is providedwith an opening '6 which is substantially hour glass or figure 8 incross section. The major-width of the opening 6 may taper into the head3. The unpointed end or each needle is provided with a groove 1 in oneside deepening as it approaches the extremity of the needle. This end ofthe Thus the head is function.

, hole Ii are shown as parallel; thus, the two employed in theconstruction shown in Figures 4 3 formed between the needles into whichthe loops of knitting may be forced to increase the looking action.

Referencc is now directed to Figures 6 and 7. V

5 whereby a pair of said needles are joined by their Here a sphericalhead 9 is shown, although the head may take the form of the head 8, andcon versely the head 3 may be spherical. In fact, the shape of the headmay be varied considerably for design reasons without intenfering withits The head 9 is provided with a socket l for receiving the unpointedend of the needle shaft, and a hole II for the-pointedend of the otherneedle. In this construction the socket i0 and ence or extent ofknitting, the two needles are securely locked in position. Thelockingeffect is such that the needles will not unlock with ordinaryhandling.

It should be pointed out that the inter-locking action of theconstructions shown in Figures 1 and 4 may be increased by-twisting asshown in Figure 7.

Reference is now directed to Figures 8 and 9. Here each knittingneedle'shaft I2 is provided with a flattened side l3 which may bear ascale printed, embossed, or pressed therein. The head l4 may be-similarto the head depicted in Figures 4 and 5; that is, an opening of figure 8cross section may be provided which conforms to the composite crosssection of the shafts l2 when laid with their flat sides contiguous.With this construction, the loops of knitting indicated in dotted linesby l5 wedge the shafts apart to secure them together and bind thepointed ends in their sockets.

While, in the various constructions, the heads are shown as attached tothe needle shafts, it is contemplated that these two members may bemolded integrally. If the heads and shafts are separate members, theymay be secured by any suitable bonding means, as by an appropriateplasticizer if they are made of plastics; or by soldering or mere pressfit if formed of metal; or a screw-threaded connection may be employed.In any case, a rigid and permanent connection is desired.

It will be observed that the tapered groove 1 and 5, and the flat sidesl2 provided'in the construction shown in Figures 8 and 9 serve to guidethe pointed end of the mating needle into its a hole so that the needlesare readily joined together.

- Also, it will be observed that in all the construction shown a biasingstrain is applied to the pointed ends of the needles tending to bindthem in their respective holes.

. v 4 to one side of said shaft, the axis of said passage convergingtoward the shaft in the direction of its unpointed end; said passageadapted to receive the pointed end of a mating knitting needle shaftends, with the shafts tending to bow outwardly ,from each other byreason of the converging axis of each passage and exert a biasing straintending to bind the shafts in their respective passages.

2. A knitting needle comprising: a needle shaft pointed at one end; ahead for the other end of said shaft, 'said head having an openingtherein, the axis of which is in angular relation to the axis of saidshaft whereby, when a pair of said needles is assembled with the pointedend of one needle in the opening of the other, the walls of said openingexert a biasing strain on said needle tending to secure the needle shafttherein.

3. A knitting needle comprising: a needle shaft including a shank ofuniform diameter and a pointed end; an elongated rigid head for theunpointed end of said shaft, said head having an opening offset from andin non-parallel relation to the axis of said shaft, said opening adaptedto receive the pointed end and engage the shank of a mating needleshaft, the walls of said opening exerting a biasing strain thereontending to secure said mating needles together.

'4. A knitting needle, comprising a shaft pointed atone end; a headeccentrically disposed ing so angularly disposed'that, when a pair ofneedles are assembled, their shafts tend to bow outwardly from eachother thereby exerting a biasing strain tending to bind the shafts intheir respective openings.

5. A pair of knitting needles each having a .pointed end and a headedend, each headed end defining means for receiving the pointed end of theother needle, said means being so angularly related to the axis oftheshaft it receives that said shafts tend to bow outwardly from each otherand exert a biasing strain tending to bind said shafts in said means.

6. A knitting needle, comprising: a knitting needle head defining a pairof openings disposed to non-parallel relation; and a needle shaftsecured in one of said openings, the other opening adapted to slidablyreceive a mating needle shaft and exert a biasing strain thereon tendingto retain said shaft therein.

ALBERT c. KENDIG. LLOYD SPENCER.

REFERENCES orrnn The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Although we have shown and described certain,Number Name Date ,gmllioditmgrtrgs of our invention, we do not wish toI 1,298,033 Gaddess Mar. 25, 1919 e mi e ereto but desire to includewithin the i scope of our invention the various embodiments FOREIGNPATENTS embraced in the appendd claims. Number Country Date We claim:105,361 Australia Sept. 30,- 1938 1. A knitting needle, comprising: ashaft 392,014 Great Britain y 1 1 pointed at one end; a headeccentrically disposed 395.307 reat Br in illy 1933 h on the unpointedend of said shaft and having 406.373 e Britain B-r- 3 a passage throughits oifcenter portion contiguous 454,669 re t Britain 1936

